DELIMITATION OF CONSCIOUSNESS

O Nanak! (One's) doubt, fear
and the limitations of the three qualities (of Maya)
are dispelled,
and like water blending with water,
(he) blends with the Lord (ਇਕ ਰੂਪ ਹੋ ਜਾਂਣਾ). (sggs 578).
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On account of one's material nature — Mayaic life — one's consciousness shrinks.
This shrinking of consciousness creates future limitations of the senses, mind
and intellect. If the consciousness is allowed to delimit itself, as time goes
by, it will shrink and shrink until one becomes unaware of it. According to the
Gurbani, the majority of us live in this state of delimited consciousness just
as the frog of a well. With consciousness so shrunk, we close the door to our
Mool within (Source, Origin, Jot...). If one is desirous of relinking with his Mool, the Gurbani's advice is to reverse the
lifestyle.

What really is the limited or shrunken consciousness? How can one know if he
is under the control of such limited consciousness? In nutshell, delimited consciousness
is thinking of ego-body-senses-mind-world-illusion. In other words, it is the
consciousness that has been altered, fragmented, modified or differentiated
from its Original State (Mool). A Mayaic mind in control of senses
rather than the Mool is a mind of limited consciousness. Such conditioned
mind confined to the modes of material nature (time-bound or individualized
consciousness) has limited expression as "I, me, mine", which is the
same as Haume, false ego-sense or "I-am-ness". The mind so
infatuated with corruption and possessed with particularized consciousness exhibits
contradictory qualities. In other words, the Self, as conditioned by various
contradictory limiting adjuncts, is possessed of likes and dislikes (duality
or Doojaa Bhaav). Other terms that are virtually synonymous to the delimited
consciousness include desires and fears, lust, anger, greed, emotional attachment,
pride, enviousness, stubborn mindedness, foolishness, ignorance (darkness),
selfishness, mental blindness, Manmukhtaa, Malla, Durmat,
Paravirti, inverted heart-lotus, doubts and related illusoriness, and
so on.

As indicated in the Gurbani, self-limitation — the sense of separation from
the Cosmic Unity — is thus seen everywhere in "fools" which is conducive
to repeated suffering. It exists in the minds devoid of the Divine Knowledge (Aatam Giaan),
which arises from things like body-consciousness (sensual or psychological experiences).
When the consciousness is conditioned (restless, limited or shrunk), the body
and mind reflects the lower nature. According to the Gurbani, such limitation
of the conscious mind is the real obstacle, the real barrier to the path of
enlightened existence. In fact our all fear and misery arise from our sense
of self-limitation or our separation from the Universal Unity (Waheguru).

How can the restricted or finite consciousness be seen as Unlimited and Unchangeable
again?

What is the Unlimited Consciousness? Why one should pursue it? Simply
put, the Unlimited Consciousness is the abandonment of all mental conditionings (Maya...).
It is the lotus of the mind (or heart) untouched by the water of the false ego-sense.
It is the Total Consciousness — individual consciousness
linked or yoked with the Mool within (Source, Origin, Jot...).
The mind so unconditioned is indicated in the Gurbani as Saabat Soorat (Intact or Timeless Consciousness), Joti-Svaroopa (True Image of God), Sahaj Avasthaa (Natural State of Being), Truth, Purity, Nirankaar,
Fourth State (Chauthaa Pada or Turiyaa Avasthaa), Param Pada (Jeevan Padvee or Supreme State), Jeevanmukti (the State of Emancipation), Gurmukhtaa (the State of Spiritual Being), Sunn Samaadhi (the State
of Spiritual Silence or Peace), Pure Love or Devotion, Mool-realization,
the state of complete detachment etc.

Realization of Truth, cessation of the limited or lower mind and the ending
of conditioning is interwoven. When in deep sleep (wherein one's senses are
not active anymore), one's delimitation of Consciousness ceases. Similarly,
when one is in such a state of deep Peace and Purity (sleep), where senses
are tamed and the mouse of egoism has stopped scurrying around, the Mool
is seen as All-pervading and all Bliss. However, when in a state of delimited
consciousness (false ego-sense), the same Mool, in accordance with the movement
of the conditioned mind, appears to toss around on account of doubt and illusoryness.
But in reality, the Mool continues to remain in its Natural State, deep in the
"Cave of the Heart". It is the illusioned mind (or Mayaic vision)
that intervenes and makes the Mool appears as it is a some kind of limited phenomena.
This reality that one is Unchangeable Awareness in which all activity takes
place is indicated by Baabaa Nanak in the Gurbani as follows:

ਆਪੇ ਜੋਗੀ ਆਪੇ ਭੋਗੀ ॥: Aape jogee aape
bhogee: He Himself is the Yogi (the Self or Mind in a state of egolessness:
Unlimited or Pure Consciousness). He Himself is the sensual enjoyer or pleasure
seeker (the Self or mind in a conditioned state: Haume, limited consciousness
or false ego-sense) (sggs 1021).

Once mind's doubt is removed and its illusoryness has fled (conditioning, anxiety,
hankering, distraction, worldliness etc.), the same mind regains its balance
and sees itself as the Mool. In other words, the Mool can be known only
by Itself. To a detached (desireless) man, having meditated on the Mool alone
as "I am Joti-Svaroopa", the Mool of that seeker reveals Its
True Nature to him. To put it otherwise, the attained and the attainer, or the
goal and the goer are one and the same. Thus, as time and again indicated in
the Gurbani, by becoming a Spiritual Being (Gurmukh), only Spiritual
Consciousness (Divine Wisdom, Shabad-Surti, God- or Naam-consciousness,
Truth etc.) is worth pursuing and worth sacrificing everything for because everything
else is just a mirage rising out of this Fathomlessness.